The singular form of

Stocks! I was writing along on my story last night when I came to a bit of a dilemma. I was describing the position my fictional female was in when I realized that I'm not sure of the singular form of stocks. I pondered it and came up with a few things:

-"Stocks" (but that sounds too plural)
-"Stock" (that sounds like it only has one hole)
-"A pair of stocks" (that just doesn't sound right)

Please provide me with the correct form of the word so I might go back in my tale and change it to the correct form (currently, it's highlighted in bold letters as "SINGULAR FORM OF STOCKS", and that isn't especially appealing to the eye. Or the reviewers for that matter).

-neopadinski

Much as you dislike it, your heroine is in the stocks. The plural form refers to the top and bottom pieces of wood that are latched or locked together to entrap her.

Scissors/shears and pants/slacks/trousers are the same. Pants used to be made seperately for each leg, then tied together when worn. My mother owns a set of shears that comes apart so that one shear can be exchanged for a straight or rippled cut.

...is both singular and plural. You can have one set of stocks or many sets of stocks, they're still going to be stocks.

Ah, I see. Thank you much. Yes, now that I look at it, it seems I was previously dropping the "set of" suffix, but now that I have it, it looks much better.